Zoe Bracelet

Designer: Pascale Lion 
Materials: Fine Stainless Steel Mesh 
Dimensions: L 8.5" x W .5"

Pascale Lion is an interior architect and designer, based in Paris. She teaches at the School of Decorative Arts. Metal meshes have been at the heart of her work since the early 2000s. After large-scale installations for architectural applications, she develops simple objects, both in form and in use, which invite matter into our daily lives. The jewels are the extension of this research.

Chain mail is a contemporary material that comes to us from history.  The oldest remains date from the Celts in the 3rd century BC. They show the constancy of the manufacturing principle: small iron rings, the meshes, are intertwined to form a chainmail, a garment that protects against sharp weapons. The expression "Coptic mesh" appears for the first time in 1526.

Forgotten with the evolution of warfare techniques, we find chain mail in the 20th century, with the emergence of the concept of safety at work, and the appearance of protective equipment such as gloves and aprons (opening oysters, slaughterhouses…). They are also used in the manufacture of bulletproof vests and other outfits for divers exposed to sharks.

Today chain mail is produced by complex machines, with very high precision. The rings are now welded, and smaller in size; the range of materials is expanding to meet specific needs. The most used material is stainless steel, followed by brass, bronze, aluminum and titanium.

The assembly of the layers manufactured by these machines remains manual and requires great dexterity. The finest mesh has more than 135,000 rings per square meter…

“Behind an apparent structural evidence, chainmail often holds surprises. A permanent invitation to creation!“